Sustainable energy for whom? Governing pro-poor, low-carbon pathways to development: lessons from solar PV in Kenya

Using a combination of insights from innovation studies, sociotechnical transitions theory and the STEPS pathways approach, this paper analyses the evolution of the Kenyan photovoltaics (PV) market. Considered by many to be an exemplar of private sector led development, the Kenyan PV market has witnessed the adoption of more than 300,000 solar home systems and over 100,000 solar portable lights. The notion of an entrepreneurially driven unsubsidised solar market has proved to be a powerful narrative amongst development actors who, paradoxically, have provided millions of dollars of funding to encourage the market’s development. We argue that this donor support has been critical to the success of the market, but not simply by helping to create an enabling environment in which entrepreneurs can flourish. Donor assistance has been critical in supporting a range of actors to build the elements of a PV innovation system by providing active protection for experimentation, network-building, and the construction of shared visions amongst actors throughout supply chains and amongst users.This analysis gives important clues for designing climate and development policies, with implications for the governance of energy access pathways that are inclusive of poor and marginalised groups in low income countries

The Political Economy of Low Carbon Energy in Kenya

There is growing international focus on how to support more integrated approaches to addressing climate change in ways that capture synergies and minimise the trade-offs between climate change mitigation, adaptation and development. These aims are embodied in the concept of climate compatible development (CCD). But what does this look like in practice in Kenya? With a National Action Plan on Climate Change, a Vision 2030 Strategy, a new constitution and a revised Energy Policy, Kenya is at a critical cross-roads with respect to defining its energy future for the years to come. The challenge is to enable a just transition to a lower carbon economy that delivers poverty reduction and climate resilience at the same time. But thinking about who sets the terms of transition and for whom, raises key political questions about the role of actors, interests and institutions in the energy sector. In other words, who has the power to change power? Drawing on 29 interviews with government officials, donors and businesses conducted during 2013, insights gleaned from an interactive workshop with practitioners on the themes of the research, as well as available academic and grey literature, this paper explores the role of politics, actors and institutions in enabling or frustrating the pursuit of climate compatible energy development in Kenya. This is a critical time for Kenya in deciding its energy future and whether and how it will aim to make it ‘climate compatible’. Issues of power and political economy will play a key role in determining technological and social outcomes: the winners and losers from different energy pathways and on whose terms and how the trade-offs between competing policy objectives are resolved. In particular political economy analysis helps to understand the potential for energy systems to meet climate, development and adaptation needs simultaneously

Debunking free market myths: transforming pro-poor, sustainable energy access for climate compatible development

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